Arthur Butler
He's back. Or rather, never left. That broad smile waiting for me as I came into the bookshop. Years since leaving those little scraps of paper around town saying "Arthur, your poems are ready." It was the internet that brought him back (to the store, anyway.) Someone had told Arthur that he had his poems published in Poems-For-All. And he had. Two of them; great big little poems. Published and packaged into a special little box, which has been sitting in the same space on the "hold" shelf, waiting, waiting. Years. Until now. I had always assumed Arthur had moved out of the city. It was the best explanation for never seeing him; hearing no word from others of sightings. It only took a slight variation in his orbit, he explained, a shift of a few blocks, away from his past haunts and hides, to make him invisible.
Randall Jarrell | Death of a Ball Turret Gunner
Dave "the Archbishop" Smith mentioned this poem in one of our several conversations about war and weaponry so I decided to publish it to commemorate his trip around the world on a motorcycle. The idea was to give him handfulls to dispense along the way. That never happened. Besides, Archbishop had bigger things to worry about, including a crappy-ass cycle. He's back in Sacramento know. Regrouping. Yeah, that's it. Regrouping.Jarrell's poem isn't so much a homage to the ball turret gunner as it is a reflection on what one website calls "the worst crew position on the B-17 [Bomber]." As the illustration on the back cover illustrates, the gunner is rolled into a tight ball, encased in metal and glass, hanging underneath the bomber (and a mere 15 inches from the ground when landed.)
126, 537, 538 | James Dean Tribute
Very early in the PFA series we did a poem by Arthur Winfield Knight (PFAS #15, 18, 36, 51, 126, 428, 485, 537, 538) titled James Dean: Maila which was part of a series of prose poems Arthur has written in the fashion of diary entries written by James Dean. (The 24th street irregular press subsequently published a selection of those poems in a limited edtion chapbooks titled, aptly, James Dean's Diaries.) Arthur and his wife Kit are heading to Dean's death site at Chalome this Friday and it seemed a good idea to outfit with more copies of James Dean: Maila (PFA #126), the poem referencing Dean's friendship with Maila Nurmi better known as the late night TV character Vampira. The cover has been redesigned.Not able to leave well enough alone -- and with apologies to those who have poems patiently waiting in the production pipeline -- I quickly designed two more of Arthur's James Dean poems so he'd have more to hand out on the 50th anniversary of Dean's death. James Dean: The Junky & The Poet imagines an encounter between counter culture icons (PFA #537); James Dean: Marilyn (PFA #538) involves Marilyn Monroe.
259, 260 | Rachel Savage
Covers for two Rachel Savage poems already in the series, The Magic Garter (#259) and Cafe Murder (#260) :
514 | s.v. taylor
s.v. taylor is the pen name of a local (Sacramento) poet/editor who has a special affinity for haiku and the color blue. (Fur optional.) Just finished the cover for her PFA collection of haiku (1999 - 2002), with 18 of what you might call urban haiku : 
Silent Night Film Series | The Penalty
Our good friends at Kabinet are putting on another silent film with a live score. This time the accompaniment is via the Devil's Troubador Bob Barango who has written a score for Lon Chaney's thriller The Penalty. At the Headquarters for the Arts (HQ), 25th & R streets in Sacramento. $5 bucks gets you a great event and all the red wine you can nurse from a bottle.
97, 98, 358, 479 | Kerouac, Wantling, cummings
489 | Apes of Wrath
I've been working some months now developing S.A Griffin's epic poem Apes of Wrath for the PFA series (#489). It will be the longest poem ever published in the series. I wanted to develop a special cover for this special publication and decided to build it as a wrap-around mural. Above is the version just approved by the author. (Click on it for a larger view.)
415 | Patricia Wellingham-Jones
Long overdue are the poems of Patricia Wellingham-Jones in the PFA series. Pictured here is the cover for her PFA #415. I've also been working on her other two poems -- #413, 414 -- which have covers that rely on colored card stock -- instead of the gee-whizzery of the color printer for their look -- and are, thus, not pictured.
139M | 535 | 536 | Gene Bloom
For BLOOMsDAY this Saturday, two new Gene Bloom poems featuring poems from 12563 his book of prison poems and a redesign of his PFA #139.
Unspeakable Visions of the Beat Generation
ARTHUR WINFIELD KNIGHT and KIT KNIGHT are well-known chroniclers of the poets and writers of the Beat Generation. As the editors of THE UNSPEAKABLE VISIONS OF THE INDIVIDUAL, a series of eight books including THE BEAT DIARY, THE BEAT JOURNEY and KEROUAC AND THE BEATS, Arthur and Kit have a long and interesting history of associations with a number of Beat writer's, including ALLEN GINSBERG, WILLIAM BURROUGHS, JACK KEROUAC, GARY SNYDER, GREGORY CORSO, and HERBERT HUNCKE. No bibliography on the BEATS is complete without mention of the Knight's and their publications, each Unspeakable Vision an illuminating examination of Beat Generation writers, in their own words, interviewed and photographed. Established poets/writers in their own right, Arthur's has published more than 2,000 poems and short stories as well as a number of novels, including BLUE SKIES FALLING and JAMES DEAN'S DIARIES. Kit's published work includes an essay on her interview with WILLIAM BURROUGHS. Join us for a laid back SUNDAY AFTERNOON of poetry and conversation. Come with questions. (All will be revealed.) Poems-For-All chapbooks will be dispensed.
116 | Angela Boyce
Poet Angela Boyce (PFA #116) died yesterday in San Diego. Angela was one of the first poets to read at the bookstore in the Poems-For-All Second Saturday Series. Her poem Conception was published in the series in conjunction with her reading. As the Bee obit reminds us, she was a talented Slam Poet: "Ms. Boyce's witty and provocative performances at slam competitions -- where the
performance is as important as the words -- earned her national recognition four
years ago. Competing as an individual poet from Sacramento, Boyce won fifth
place in the 2001 National Slam."
I'm reminded of a different Boyce when I recall that reading in 2002. She was certainly witty. And provocative. But the bookstore, with a smaller crowd and cramped stage -- behind a podium, back to a wall of books -- didn't lend itself to much in the way of performance. It was an opportunity to hear her at a slower pace, presenting poems which might not have fit into a slam competion but settled quite nicely within the intimacy of a small bookstore reading. When I heard the news about Angela's death I set out to print more copies of her booklets, as a tribute. I also decided to redesign it. Copies are available at the bookstore.
